1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a connector that gathers the ends of a plurality of ornamental jewelry for encircling a member of human body, such as necklaces, bracelets, watchbands and armbands.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Chokers are 15 to 17 inches long necklaces worn at the base of the neck of a person. One aesthetically pleasing means of wearing a multiple-strand choker is to make the strands draping in front of the neck parallel and adjoined to one another in “a stacked arrangement”, as shown in FIG. 3. In order to attain a stacked arrangement, the choker has to fit the contour of wearers' neck. The shape of people's neck is substantially a truncated cone at the base, and gradually becomes a tube at the throat portion. To fit the shape of the cone, the length of an upper strand must be shorter than the lower strand. As the slope of the cone increases, the required relative difference between the lengths of the strands decreases.
When a person with a thick neck wears a multiple-strand necklace of a medium size, the necklace would fit at a higher portion of the neck, where the slope is steeper, thus the strands tend to separate from one other, as shown in FIG. 1A. When a person with a thin neck wears the same necklace, the necklace slides to the base of the neck, where the slope of the neck is smaller, thus the strands overlap with one another as shown in FIG. 1B. Although extenders are commonly used to adjust the necklace to fit the size of the neck, they can not adjust the strands to fit the contour of the neck.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,529,058 disclosed a device to set the length of each strand in a multiple-strand necklace to attain a better fit. But the finished necklace still has to be custom-made and cannot fit a variety of neck contours.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,992 disclosed a clasp, which claims the ability to adjust the distance between parallel beaded chains. However, the adjustment is made to the distance between the ends of the adjacent strands, and has limited effect in adjusting the distance between the portions of the strands that drapes in front of the neck.
Furthermore, the strands in a choker are easily displaced due to flexing of neck muscles or changes in body posture, such as movement of the shoulders or the head. A choker that is carefully fitted to the neck may not be able to retain the stacked arrangement. Ideally, the choker should resume a neatly stacked arrangement when the wearer engages in moderate physical activities.
Dividers are commonly used on the sides of multiple strand chokers to keep the strands adjoined and to fix their relative positions to maintain a neatly arrayed arrangement. However, chokers incorporating the separators still have to be custom made, and they are often not aesthetically desirable.
Wearing a short multiple-strand choker, known as “collars”, snugly around the throat also produces an aesthetically pleasing effect. Such choker also has to fit comfortably and shapely about the neck. The effect is lost should the strands sag or overlap with each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,597 disclosed an elastic connector for multiple-strand chokers that employs a set of springs to accommodate variation in the size of wearer's neck and prevent the choker from slipping down. However, a pressure is applied to the neck when an elastic means is used, and the wearer could suffer from an irritable stifled feeling at the throat.
Another means employed in the prior art to keep collar fit snugly around the neck is to use elastic strings. However, the strands have to be pulled very tightly around the neck to prevent from sliding down, thus causing discomfort. Moreover, the strings often lose their elasticity after repeated use.
Although multiple-strand chokers and collars are very popular jewelry, they could not be purchased off-the-shelf and expected to fit the contour of the neck featuring stacked arrangement effect, nor could they be confidently purchased through printed or electronic media when fitting is not possible before ordering.